


Show me what you do

by novera_nope



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Drama & Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Odin (Marvel)'s A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:48:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22548826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novera_nope/pseuds/novera_nope
Summary: “Do you know of any other people who’ll tell the almighty Thor, crown prince of Asgard, that he sucks at kissing?” Loki challenges, grinning widely. “No? If you want to know whether you really lack in that department or not, I’m your only option, brother. Show me.”
Relationships: Loki/Thor (Marvel)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 209





	Show me what you do

Something’s not right.

Thor and Odin are sitting in the great hall, heads close together in a heated discussion. Thor’s annoyed at something their father says – Loki can see it clearly, even though he’s not all that good at reading Thor, not anymore – and yet, his brother’s not yelling or storming off to wreak havoc with Mjölnir somewhere. Instead, he just looks defeated.

It must be bad, then.

Loki shrugs and turns away, sipping his wine.

***

They used to be close, Loki and Thor. Thor and Loki. When they were children, they were inseparable, joined at the hip.

At first, Odin had looked upon them indulgently, perhaps even tenderly. But as they grew older and the physicality between them never ceased, never even wavered, his attitude towards them changed. Gone were the twinkles in his eye whenever he caught them fighting, gone the encouraging pats on their shoulder when he saw them trying out their ever developing skills on each other.

Even his oaf of a brother had noticed eventually, and it had led to one of the infamous shouting matches between Thor and their father. Admittedly, Thor had held his own, but in the end he’d had no choice but to obey Odin anyway.

Thor was to go out more in order to strengthen Asgard’s position in the realms and to find himself a suitable spouse.

Loki, on the other hand, was to stay right where he was and, well, not bother Thor in his quest. Odin never said it in so many words, but the implication was clear.

And that had been the end of them.

At first, Thor had seemed genuinely reluctant when he was forced to attend this or that feast in the honour of some noble maiden – and he always promised Loki he’d come home. _To you_ , he never said. Loki heard it anyway.

Until one evening, Thor didn’t come home at all. It didn’t come as a surprise to Loki; he could imagine his proud brother thriving amidst all the attention he no doubt received on the numerous occasions for which he was expected to make an appearance.

Still, it hurt. Not that he missed Thor, mind you. Loki was quite content, catching up on his reading and continuing to master his magical skills to the fullest without his beast of a brother around. No, he didn’t miss him – he adamantly refused to miss someone who could so easily discard him.

Eventually, Loki simply stopped seeking out Thor whenever Odin’s ravens were not keeping track of him.

Thor never said anything about it. Loki figured he never even noticed, caught up as he was in his new life.

***

Loki starts from his sleep when he feels the bed dip. He smells an expensive perfume and liquor and sweat.

“Thor?” he mumbles sleepily, although he can’t remember the last time Thor has visited him in his chambers. He lazily flicks his hand towards the candle next to him and it lights up. He sees his brother’s silhouette on the edge of his bed, face buried in his hands.

“I’m so fucking tired of this,” Thor groans.

Loki briefly considers snapping at his brother about how tired _he_ is and how _dare_ Thor wake him up like this, but there’s something in Thor’s slumped figure that gives him pause and makes him hold his tongue for once. He sits up. “Tired of what, brother?”

Thor rubs his forehead and snifs, not meeting Loki’s eyes when he answers. “Those… dates. They never - _go_ anywhere, you know.”

“Go anywhere?” Loki’s suddenly wide awake, although he can’t exactly tell what his brother’s getting at. “What are you –"

“It’s all good at first,” Thor interrupts. “A man meets a woman, she’s beautiful, she’s plenty attractive. And then they kiss, like they’re supposed to do, and he _doesn’t even like it_ , and he’s supposed to like it.” Thor’s rambling, which Loki puts down to the liquor. “And then he can’t even – he can’t even –"

Loki, uncharacteristically, takes pity on his brother and puts a hand on his arm. “Thor.” It feels strange, touching him after all this time. Thor hardly seems to notice.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this,” Thor mumbles.

Loki grins despite everything, trying to lift Thor’s spirits. “Because even after all this time, it’s still _me_. Your beloved brother.”

Thor huffs. “As I recall correctly, you’ve mostly been an utter pain in the ass.” But when he looks at Loki and the candlelight flickers across his face, there’s a fondness in his eyes that makes Loki’s heart practically leap out of his chest. It _hurts_ , having lost that.

Quickly dismissing it, Loki decides to change the subject. “What were you and Father arguing about earlier?”

Thor looks startled for a moment. “I didn’t think you’d noticed that.”

Loki looks down, fumbling with the hem of his night gown.

“Father is getting impatient,” Thor sighs. “He says I’ve taken long enough to find myself a spouse and that I should announce my fiancé, soon. But I just can’t seem to –" He swallows thickly. “Will you promise me not to laugh when I tell you something?”

Loki’s left eye twitches. He’s still not looking up. “I promise.”

“I think - I’m afraid I’m just really bad at it, you know,” Thor confesses.

“Bad at what?” Loki asks, turning towards his brother.

Thor closes his eyes briefly. “Kissing. And, you know. What usually follows,” he whispers. "What _should_ follow."

Loki bursts out laughing.

“I should’ve known,” Thor snarls, standing up and striding towards the door of Loki’s chambers, only to be startled when suddenly Loki’s lean form appears against it, effectively blocking his way out.

“Oh no, brother.” Loki shakes his head, trying to stifle his laughter. “By the norns, you’re a _fertility god_! How can you be bad at, well, _that_?”

Thor looks confused. “Well, it can’t be _them_. I mean, I’ve tried with dozens of women and yet –"

Something clicks inside Loki. His face falls and his eyes darken, pupils dilating almost entirely. “Show me,” he hisses, the words tumbling out before he can stop them.

Silence stretches between them. And then Loki pulls his brother taut against his body and repeats himself, slower this time. “Show me,” he urges. “What you do, when you – show me. I’ll be honest.”

Thor’s eyes widen in realization. “What – no! I’m not kissing my brother, for crying out loud!”

“Do you know of any other people who’ll tell the almighty Thor, crown prince of Asgard, that he sucks at kissing?” Loki challenges, grinning widely. “No? If you want to know whether you really lack in that department or not, I’m your only option, brother.”

Loki leans back against the door, watching as a myriad of emotions flicker across Thor’s face. When finally their eyes lock, he knows that his brother’s made up his mind. He’s never been one to back down from a challenge.

Thor doesn’t pounce on him, like Loki’d expected him to do in his drunk state. Instead, his brother leans in ever so slowly, and tentatively presses his lips against his. When he withdraws, they just stand there, breathing against each other.

At that point, Loki realizes Thor’s not as inebriated as he’d thought, he can smell it on his breath, and suddenly this makes everything _real_ \- more real than Loki’d intended it to be. A shiver runs down his spine all of a sudden, and he’s sure Thor can feel it.

Thor closes the distance between them once again, but this time, his tongue sweeps against Loki’s lips and Loki opens them automatically, he can’t do anything but turn into the kiss, and when their tongues touch, Loki feels like he’s gone to fucking _Valhalla_.

No, there’s nothing wrong with Thor, Loki thinks as his brother leans in again and again, an endless battle of tongues and lips and teeth, before all thought escapes him when Thor’s large hand gently pushes his head sideways, exposing his neck. He closes his eyes, panting slightly against the door, and when he feels Thor’s tongue licking a stripe over his neck, he actually _whimpers_ and bucks up against his brother.

Apparently, he should not have done that.

Thor pulls away abruptly, a look of horror dawning on his face as he looks down from Loki’s debauched form to the very obvious bulge in his own pants. He shoves his brother aside non too gently and flees.

This time, Loki let’s him.

***

Loki doesn’t see Thor for weeks. It isn’t any different from the last months, Loki keeps telling himself – and it really isn’t, except that it is. He tries to follow his routine, but he can’t sleep. He can’t eat. Everything feels _off_ , somehow. There’s a nervousness inside him that he just can’t seem to shake.

He doesn’t seek out his brother, though; in the end, it’s Thor who catches up with him.

Loki’s out in field behind the palace gardens, working on a particularly tricky dagger move, when suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck prickle and he knows Thor’s _there_. He only acknowledges his brother when he calls out to him, though. “Loki. We need to talk.”

Loki turns around and meets his brother’s eyes. The trees around them seem to whisper, echoing the restlessness inside him. “Do we?” he asks, feigning innocence.

“ _Loki_. Don’t, just – no games,” Thor says, raking a hand through his hair and rubbing his forehead. “I need to know. What – _was_ that?”

Loki can clearly hear all the questions that lay behind, but as he has no answers to those questions, he guards his expression and tries to go for light. “That, Thor, was a kiss. A _good_ kiss, I dare say.” He grins. “You’re rather good at it, brother, I think we’ve managed to establish that much. Which was the point, no?”

Thor stares at him for a long moment, but he knows better than to push him. He sighs warily. “Then do tell me, brother, if I’m skilled enough, why this whole _dating arrangement_ isn’t working out for me.”

“Well, it may have escaped your notice, but you’ve been trying over and over to get it on with a woman, whereas I am very much male,” he says.

Thor’s frowns, shaking his head. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you should broaden the playing field, brother.” Loki shrugs and smiles. “I myself tend to find encounters with men much more… satisfying.”

“You - _what_?”

Loki rolls his eyes. “Eloquent as ever, I see. It’s called being queer, Thor. I’ve never made it a secret.”

“You’ve been with – you’ve had – how could I have _missed_ that?” Thor asks, taking a step towards him. “I thought I knew –"

“Well,” Loki interrupts, “you’ve been missing quite a lot, have you not?” It sounds bitter, he knows, but the words are out before he can stop them.

“You’re right,” Thor admits, taking another step, his hand reaching out to touch Loki's face. “I’m sor–"

“Don’t,” Loki snaps, stepping back so that he’s out of Thor’s reach. He doesn’t need Thor’s apology, nor does he need his touch. Maybe, if he keeps telling himself that, he'll believe it one day.

“I know I haven’t been here enough,” Thor utters. “I understand that you’re angry. But we really need to talk about –"

“Leave it,” Loki hisses. “Go away. I need to practice.” He whirls around and walks away, leaving his brother alone in the middle of the field.

“I’ll think about your suggestion,” Thor calls after him after a while.

“Yeah,” Loki mumbles to himself. He’s holding the dagger with so much force his knuckles have turned white, he notices before the weapon flies out of his hand and into the tree trunk in front of him. “You do that.”

***

That evening, when Thor’s _out_ again, he wishes he hadn’t said anything. The idea of Thor being with another man is sickening – in the darkness of his own room, he can at least admit that.

He feels even worse when their mother chooses that same evening to seek him out, insisting she must speak with him, and tells him he’s adopted. The ground falls out from beneath his feet.

“Why?” he manages to choke out through his tears. “Why tell me now?”

His mother doesn’t answer, but gives him a knowing look. What it is she thinks she knows, Loki has no idea.

He yearns for Thor, but now they’re not even brothers anymore, they’re _nothing_ to each other. He’s never felt more alone.

***  
_Asgard’s second prince is unwell._

The palace is buzzing with it – how Loki doesn’t come near the great hall anymore, how he flat out refuses to eat, how he’s looking more and more like a ghost with every day.

The rumours only reach Thor after ten days, but when they do, he goes ballistic. He rushes towards Loki’s chambers, starts to rage when it becomes clear his brother won’t open the door. He seeks out their parents next, demanding to be told what is going on, only to be met by Odin’s disapproving silence and Frigga’s sad smile. He knows it’s serious, then.

He storms back to Loki’s chambers taking Mjölnir with him. He’s not above using her, and he makes sure Loki is aware of the fact.

This time, the door opens.

When Thor enters, he half expects to find Loki in a heap on his bed, but there he is, sitting in his chair with a book in his lap, looking for all the nine realms like nothing’s amiss. He doesn’t fool Thor, though. He’s pale, he’s lost weight, and he looks even more nervous than usual, the book bouncing up and down in his lap.

So Thor crosses the distance between them, pulling Loki up and gathering him in his arms. That his brother _lets_ him, is alarming in itself.

“What are you doing?” Loki mumbles, but it means nothing when his arms sneak around Thor’s waist and come to rest on his back.

“I heard – things. I was worried,” Thor offers. “What happened?”

When Loki doesn’t answer, he sighs. “ _Talk_ to me. What happened, brother?”

“Ah, but there’s the rub,” Loki says, voice muffled against his shoulder. “It appears I’m not your brother after all.”

Thor pulls back at that, searching Loki’s face for any signs of trickery. “What do you mean, you’re not my brother? Of course you’re –"

“I am _not_ ,” Loki says, sharply. “I’ve never been your brother. Mother told me.”

“Okay.” Thor closes his eyes for a moment, trying to process the information. When he opens them again, there’s a calm in them that Loki had not been expecting. “So you’re adopted?”

“Obviously,” Loki drawls. “So feel free to go, Thor. I’m nothing to you.” A flicker of fear crosses his face, and Thor doesn’t miss it.

Anger flares up inside him like lightning and he grabs Loki’s thin shoulders, shaking him. “Are you insane?” he spits. “How can you say that? You’re everything to me!”

And although he has a hundred questions – who are you? where are you from? why didn’t I know? why didn’t _you_? – he realizes that the only thing that matters right know, is for Loki to know that. So without thinking, he presses his lips against Loki’s, once, twice, before pulling back and repeating himself. “You’re _everything_ , Loki.”

Loki looks up, not trying to hide the tears on his face. “How can I be?” he whispers.

“You’re not my brother,” Thor says.

Loki flinches as if he’d been slapped. “You’ve always been a fool, but I never took you for a cruel man, Thor.”

He tries to struggle out of Thor’s grip, but Thor doesn’t let him. He shakes his head and starts talking rapidly. “Listen to me, Loki. If you’re not my brother, it means – it means you can be my lover. It means I can put an end tot his charade Father’s making me go through and simply be with you. With _you_ , Loki.”

Loki’s eyes narrow. “Stop it, Thor. No games, you said so yourself.”

“Norns, would you just _listen_ to me!” Thor bellows. “This isn’t a game to me, Loki. It never was. The moment I kissed you, I _knew_. And I think you did, as well.”

He stares at Loki for a moment, but when no denial comes, he continues. “It wasn’t about gender at all. It was about you. I just – didn’t know what to do about it. I could see no way we could be together. But now I do.”

“You want to be… together,” Loki states, disbelief still clear in his voice, but is that also – hope? “As lovers.”

“Yes,” Thor confirms without hesitation. “As lovers. As spouses. As kings, ruling side by side. As it was always meant to be. If you’ll have me, that is.”

Silence hangs between them as Thor awaits Loki’s answer. It’s a heavy thing, almost physical, until finally, Loki’s beautiful smile breaks through his tears.

He leans up, closing the distance between their lips until he’s little more than a breath away. “Yes, Thor,” he whispers. “Gods, yes.” He kisses him then, his hand coming up to cup the back of Thor’s head, almost as if he’s afraid Thor will change his mind and run out on him any minute.

Thor’s not going anywhere. He kisses Loki back with as much tenderness as he can muster, trying to convey just how much his once brother means to him. Eventually the kiss grows from soft to heated though. Every fiber in Thor’s body is screaming to take this further, but he’s determined to let Loki set the pace.

And then it’s Loki who starts scrabbling at Thor’s clothes with shaking hands, groaning in frustration when they just _won’t come off_ and Thor decides to take over. “Make them disappear,” he commands, and with a snap of Loki’s fingers, they’re both stark naked. “Bed,” he pants. “Now.”

They stumble backwards until they topple over onto the bed, Loki’s slim frame on top of Thor’s bulk. The motion brings their hard cocks together and Thor let’s out a low growl. “Loki”, he breathes. “I need –"

“Yes,” Loki all but mewls. “Do it, Thor. Everything.”

They make love that night, more than once. When they’re finally spent, they lay together, simply enjoying the closeness they’ve denied themselves for so long.

“Thor?” Loki whispers when Thor’s almost drifting off.

“What?” Thor croaks.

Loki buries his head in the crook of Thor’s neck. “You know, I must admit you're rather good at this as well."

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm new to this fandom. So far, I've read some awesome stories out here, and well, this short story is what came up. Also, I haven't been writing in about a year, so I might be a bit rusty as well. :-) Comments and/or kudos are much appreciated, as well as constructive criticism!


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